MandarinaKids Products and Services are all about helping Parents build a bilingual environment at home to learn the Chinese language. The Early Learning Years (infant to toddler years) are the most critical in terms of exposure and absorption. All our products and services are based on the philosophy of circles of engagement and layering learning experiences so as to build an ambience of continual learning and more importantly, learning that is FUN ! Every tool we create takes into consideration a child’s developing motor skills, spatial development, color recognition and attention span.

DVDs – Kids love watching other kids and learning from them – watch our DVDs and see their interest! Their color recognition development will grow from black, red and white to a range of colors. The Chinese language will be introduced in a simple manner with lots of repetitions accompanied by moving real-life pictures to keep them continually surprised.

TOYS – this is a Mummy or Daddy time to reinforce the fun in learning Chinese and making every opportunity a chance to learn something together through touch and sound. Watch your child watch you – your enthusiasm will be infectious to him/her!

BOOKS – as your kid hits those tricky toddler years, touching, feeling and hearing are all part of their learning years. Their gross motor skills are fast developing and they will want to touch, hold, grab, suck and fiddle with everything! Our Books are child friendly with large pictures and easy words. Reading also helps your child think through sentence structure in Chinese. By 3 years old, his logical processes will develop at a rapid rate, and story reading provides a platform that explains sequencing whilst cultivating curiosity.

iPHONE APP – our iPhone App is easily translatable into the larger iPad. This is Chinese learning on-the-go without having to bring along a lot of learning aids. There are opportunities to build vocabulary, color and try out calligraphy all in one easy Application! For pre-schoolers ideally.

MandarinaKids EXCURSIONS – we want to teach the Chinese language outside of school ! Kids should not be associating the learning of a language only in a classroom environment and so, we have created opportunities to integrate the language into everyday use for both Mummy & Kid! Mums & Dads get taught useful phrases whilst we introduce their kid to the Chinese language spoken by a native Chinese teacher.

Our Story

Not so long ago, my husband and I hoped that our kids could speak three languages fluently, interchangeably and without hesitation. The languages were English, (Chinese) Mandarin and German. From birth, my husband spoke to them incessantly in German and I spoke to them in English. Unfortunately my (Chinese) Mandarin was not the best. We had to leave (Chinese) Mandarin to the best school systems and enrichment programmes that we could afford.

We realised not long after that the term ‘mother tongue’ is exactly that – a truism! Kids speak the language of their mothers as the most influential person in their lives. Our kids spoke English as a dominant language because of me, much to my frustration. They understand (Chinese) Mandarin but speaking it has required time and attention.

I looked for divine intervention through every multimedia tool I could get my hands on! I tried Chinese classes with a popular enrichment school (nope… it didn’t work with my kids). I only let them watch cartoons in (Chinese) Mandarin (yes, that definitely helped!). I became obsessed with visiting Chinese Bookshops to get my hands on the latest teaching aid, the books, the toys – it was never ending.

The most frustrating experience was seeing this entire library of these children DVDs in (Chinese) Mandarin and not knowing what the content was all about. The instructions were too difficult. Surely Chinese DVDs are not meant only for the Chinese, I reasoned….Then of course, there were the DVDs for school children with complex phrases in flash card fashion which drove me to boredom and left my kids disinterested as it was rote learning and not interactive. There was nothing for babies and toddlers.

And so I created my first DVD for my own children – Vol 1. I shared it with friends who liked it and who encouraged me to share it with other mums who felt similarly frustrated.

Whilst I was in Beijing, I sought out language teachers and linguists. I sought out Advisors and received feedback from mothers. We decided to help mothers all over the world overcome similar frustrations in bringing up bilingual children, and who were interested in Chinese.

Studies show that the brain connectivity for languages is encouraged before the age of 3 years old. Also, a child will be a fluent speaker if a significant person in their lives speak it. This needs to be supplemented by the constant exposure to the language. The birth of the products on my web site is to create an environment of learning Chinese – we want foreign language-speaking mothers to learn the (Chinese) Mandarin language with their kids.

Watch our DVDs with your babies, then practice having fun with them. Use the words at play time, feeding time, bath time. We want your kids to be bilingual, trilingual if they can….but you, as mums need to be the change agents first. Learn the Chinese language, learn about the Chinese culture…enrich the learnings for your child so that he observes and absorbs your enthusiasm.

More importantly have fun and enjoy your kids!

Lelia
MandarinaKids

Advisors to MandarinaKids

Mr. FOO Soo Luang
PB, PBS

Mr Foo was the Principal of Maha Bhodi School for over 20 years. Maha Bhodi was a Chinese school aided by government and taught both English and Mandarin as First Language. It was highly regarded for it’s strong Chinese Culture curriculum. Mr Foo continues to be a valuable member to the community and is the Secretary for the Chinese Teachers’ Association / Singapore Chinese Schools’ Conference. He actively promotes Chinese Cultural Activities through Chinese Associations and in his free time, is a Licensed Solemniser for the Registrar of Marriages.

Maha Bhodi School, Singapore
Principal (1971 – 1996)

Singapore Chinese Schools’ Conference
Secretary (current)

Foo Clan Association, Singapore
Deputy Head of Education (current)

Qionghai Association, Singapore
Chairman (1998 – 2010)

Registrar of Marriages Singapore
Licensed Solemniser & Deputy Registrar of Marriages